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A 'rare biosphere' microorganism contributes to sulfate reduction in a peatland.

ABSTRACT: Methane emission from peatlands contributes substantially to global warming but is significantly reduced by sulfate reduction, which is fuelled by globally increasing aerial sulfur pollution. However, the biology behind sulfate reduction in terrestrial ecosystems is not well understood and the key players for this process as well as their abundance remained unidentified. Comparative 16S rRNA gene stable isotope probing (SIP) in the presence and absence of sulfate indicated that a Desulfosporosinus species, which constitutes only 0.006% of the total microbial community 16S rRNA genes, is an important sulfate reducer in a long-term experimental peatland field site. Parallel SIP using dsrAB (encoding subunit A and B of the dissimilatory (bi)sulfite reductase) identified no additional sulfate reducers under the conditions tested. For the identified Desulfosporosinus species a high cell-specific sulfate reduction rate of up to 341?fmol SO?²? cell?¹ day?¹ was estimated. Thus, the small Desulfosporosinus population has the potential to reduce sulfate in situ at a rate of 4.0-36.8?nmol (g soil w. wt.)?¹?day?¹, sufficient to account for a considerable part of sulfate reduction in the peat soil. Modeling of sulfate diffusion to such highly active cells identified no limitation in sulfate supply even at bulk concentrations as low as 10??M. Collectively, these data show that the identified Desulfosporosinus species, despite being a member of the 'rare biosphere', contributes to an important biogeochemical process that diverts the carbon flow in peatlands from methane to CO? and, thus, alters their contribution to global warming.

SUBMITTER: Pester M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4499578 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A 'rare biosphere' microorganism contributes to sulfate reduction in a peatland.

Pester Michael M Bittner Norbert N Deevong Pinsurang P Wagner Michael M Loy Alexander A

The ISME journal 20100610 12

Methane emission from peatlands contributes substantially to global warming but is significantly reduced by sulfate reduction, which is fuelled by globally increasing aerial sulfur pollution. However, the biology behind sulfate reduction in terrestrial ecosystems is not well understood and the key players for this process as well as their abundance remained unidentified. Comparative 16S rRNA gene stable isotope probing (SIP) in the presence and absence of sulfate indicated that a Desulfosporosin ...[more]

PMID: 20535221

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Project description:In order to obtain a global view of energy metabolism pathways of the sulfate-reducer Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough and the proteins involved therein whole-genome microarrays were used to compare the transcriptional response of cells grown with hydrogen/sulfate, pyruvate/sulfate, lactate/thiosulfate, and pyruvate with limiting sulfate, relative to growth in standard lactate/sulfate condition. Growth with hydrogen/sulfate showed the largest number of differently expressed genes and the largest changes in expression levels. The most up-regulated energy metabolism genes were those coding for the periplasmic [NiFeSe] hydrogenase, followed by the Ech hydrogenase, and the most down-regulated were genes coding for the Coo hydrogenase. The results point to the involvement of formate cycling and the ethanol pathway during growth on hydrogen, whereas there is evidence for CO cycling during growth on lactate and pyruvate, but not on H2. Growth with thiosulfate showed the hallmarks of a reduced energy status of the cells with down regulation of the ATP synthase and the Qmo and Dsr complexes., whereas growth with pyruvate showed the smallest differences but an increased role for the Ech hydrogenase.that in this case functions in reverse from the case of growth with H2. The multiple periplasmic hydrogenases and formate dehydrogenases, do not display the same regulation pattern showing that their metabolic roles are not totally interchangeable. This result together with the observation that several genes coding for proteins that have not been biochemically characterised were considerably affected in this study, reveals a more complex energy metabolism than previously considered and provides guidance for further studies. Keywords: Growth protocol Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough was cultured at 37°C with thiosulfate as the only electron acceptor (with lactate as the electron donor) to mid-log phase. Cultures were also cultivated similarly using sulfate as the sole electron acceptor to mid-log phase. Gene expression profiles of cultures grown with thiosulfate as the electron acceptor were compared with those of the cultures grown with sulfate as the electron acceptor for dissimilatory sulfate reductiontion. Total RNA was harvested from four replicate cultures for microarray analysis. RNA extraction, purification, and labeling were performed independently on each cell sample. Two samples of each total RNA preparation were labeled, one with Cy3-dUTP and another with Cy5-dUTP for microarray hybridization (dye swap).

Dataset Information

A 'rare biosphere' microorganism contributes to sulfate reduction in a peatland.

Publications

A 'rare biosphere' microorganism contributes to sulfate reduction in a peatland.

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